Controlled-flexing splice bar



Fiied Nov. 7, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Aug. 27, 1940 when CONTROLLED-FLEXING SPLICE BAR Clarkson A. Disbrow, New Rochelle, N. Y assignor to Poor & Company, New York, N. Y., a

corporation of Delaware Application November '7, 1938, Serial No. 239,393

5 Claims.

and their ends from the rails.

One important object of the invention is to provide a splice bar of the type mentioned which is specially designed to possess effective flexibility, particularly in the non-contacting portions thereof, to the end of promoting flexing or bending of the bar to either side of its medial portion a of leaving the medial portion free to act eifective- 1y as a strut to support the rail ends.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a splice bar of the type mentioned which not only embodies an eifective medial strut portion and portions to either side thereof designated to promote flexing, but which also embodies a construction such that its fuli strength is preserved and is amply great to insure safe carrying of loads to which the bar is subjected:

in service.

With a View to providing a rail joint which is freely flexible to permit the natural wave motion of the rails to pass freely therethrough, which, at the same time, possesses great strength, and in which the extreme end portions of the rails are maintained high and are firmly supported against deflection relative to each other, the general object of the invention, more particularly stated, is to provide a splice bar which has a high, stiff central portion acting as a strut to firmly support the extreme end portions of the rails; which has high end portions contacting the rails to efiectively hold them in alinement; which has intermediate, lower, rail clearance por tions devoid of peak or apex metal affording flexibility without danger of rupture; and which at the same time, is of uniform, or substantially uniform, strength and area throughout its length so as safely to support the loads to which it is subjected.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, which will become more fully apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in a splice bar, and in a rail joint incorporating the same, embodying the novel combination and arrangementof features as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and defined in th appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in the difierent views:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a rail joint embodying 2, splice bar constructed in accordance 5 with the invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged side elevation of one end portion of the bar indicating by dotted-lines the cross-sectional shape of the bar at different points along its length. 7 a

' Figures 3, 4 and 5' are cross-sections on the lines 3-3; l-4 and 5-5, respectively of Fig.. 1; and

Figure 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional View taken through the medial portion of the bar and 1; illustrating the relationship of the end and in- 15 termediate portions of the bar to each other and to said medial portion. 7

Referring to the drawings in detail, R, R designate the meeting end portions of a, pair of railway rails, each including, as usual, a head it, a web H and a base i2, and B designates, generally, a splice bar constructed in accordance with the invention and connecting said rail ends to.-

gether. l M

The splice bar B includes, as usual, a head it, a web I l and a base l5, and, in accordance with the invention, the medial portion a and the end portions b, b of saidbar are of a height to take loading engagement at their tops and bottoms with head and base portions, respectively, of the rails R, R. On the other hand, the portions 0, c of the bar, between its medial portion a and its end portions b, b, are of lesser heightthan said medial and "end portions and are stepped downwardly at their tops and upwardly at their bottoms relative to thetops and the bottoms, re-

spectively, of said medial and end portions so as to have clearances at their tops and bottoms from the head and the base portions, respectively, of

the rails.- In the known bars of the controlled 40 bearing type the intermediate or clearance portions thereof are not only of less height and stiffness than the medial and end portions of the bar-but'also are of less modulus value or weaker than said medial and end portions; whereas, ac- 5 cording to the present invention the intermediate portions of the bar while of sufiiciently less inertia value than the medial and end portions to insure flexibility, are of substantially theisame modulus values as the medial and end portions of the bar and the same area, thereby maintaining a uniformity'of strength and area throughout the entire bar with the result of producing a bar of maximum efficiency in separating the shearing and bending strains and insuring'adequate 5 flexibility for the bar to easily and freely take care of the rail wave motion through the joint. Consequently, while prior rail joints employing splice bars of the controlled bearing type are flexible, nevertheless, they lack the desirable relation of the physical properties of the intermediate portions of the bar to the medial and end portions thereof, as provided by the present invention.

The present bar is formed by first rolling a basic bar section, indicated by dot and. dash lines in Figure 6, and by then subjecting the basic bar section to pressure between dies toheighten its medial and end portions and to reduce the height of the portions thereof between said medial and end portions. In thus forming the bar no metal is removed and the web of the bar is maintained of equal thickness and of substantially uniform height throughout the length of the bar. Increasing the height of the portions a and b, b of the bar is effected by narrowing or reducing the width or thickness of the heads and the bases of said portions. Similarly, decreasing the height of the portions 0, c, is effected by widening or increasing the width or thickness of the heads and the bases of said portions. Thus, the portions a and b, b of the bar are rendered. stiff, the portions 0, c of the bar are rendered relatively flexible and, at the same time, stiffness and flexibility in said portions is obtained while desirably maintaining the strength of the bar substantially uniform throughout its length. This will be evident from the calculation figures appended to Figure 2, from which it will be noted that the cross sectional area of the particular bar chosen for purposes of illustrating the invention is the same throughout the length of the bar; that the section moduli or strength characteristics of the bar also are approximately uniform throughout the length of the bar; but that the moment of inertia or stiffness characteristics of the bar are materially greater in the portions (1 and b, b than in the portions 0, c of the bar. It will further be noted that while the medial and the end portions a and b=,b, of the bar have materially higher inertia or stiffness values than the portions 0, c, of the bar, the moment of inertia or stifiness values of said portions a and b, b, is not the same. On the contrary, the moment of inertia or stiffness value of the portions 22, b is less than the moment of inertia or stiffness value of the portion a. This is desirable because the end portions of the bar are not required to have the same high degree of stiffness required of the medial portion a to maintain the rail ends high and effectively supported, and because a certain amount of flexibility in the end'portions b, b, is desirable to permit said portions to partake of the natural Wave motion of the rails without undue resistance to such motion.

As will be apparent by particular reference to Figure 4 of the drawings, the portions 0, c of the present bar are more or less rounded at their tops and, in any event, are devoid of any pronounced peaks of metal such as are present at the tops of the portions 11 and b, b of the bar and to which may be attributed in a large measure the high moment of inertia or stiffness values of said medial and end portions. Therefore, the portions 0, c of the bar, while strong, are capable of flexing with little vor no danger of rupture.

In Figure 6 of the drawings the medial portion a of the bar is shown in full lines 'and'in cross section; one portion 0 of the bar is indicated. by heavy dotted lines, and one end portion 1) of the bar is indicated by light dot and dash lines. As between the medial portion a, and the end portion b, it will be observed that the head and the base of the end portion are slightly narrower and deeper than the head and the base of the medial portion a and that the greater depth of the head and the base of the end portion 1) is due, comparatively speaking, to metal being, in effect, removed from the outer portion of the rib [6 at the front of the head of the bar and applied to the under,-inner side of the head, and to metal being, in effect, removed from the tip of the toe at the base of the bar and applied primarily at the upper, inner side of the base of the bar. Thus, the end portions 1), b of the bar are rendered slightly less stiff than the medial portion a of the bar as aforesaid.

As Will be apparent, a splice bar constructed. in accordance with the invention operates effectively to maintain the extreme end portions of the rails high and alined and against downward flexure relative to each other; possesses all requisite strength to safely support the rails and, at the same time, permits flexing of the joint in the amount required to permit the natural wave motion of the rails to pass freely through the joint.

Without further description it is thought that the features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form, proportion and minor de tails of construction may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A splice bar for connecting together the meeting end portions of railway rails, said bar having medial and end portions for loading engagement with the rails and portions between said medial and end portions of lesser height and greater thickness than said medial and end portions for clearance from the rails, said bar having substantially uniform moduli values above and below its neutral axis throughout its length and also having materially greater moment of inertia values in its medial and end portions than in its portions between said medial and end portions, said bar being of equal cross sectional area throughout its length and the relationship between the moment of inertia and the height of the bar being substantially constant, whereby the bar is of substantially equal strength throughout its length.

2. A splice bar for connecting together the meeting ends of railway rails, said bar having high, stiff, medial and end portions and portions between said medial and end portions of lesser height and greater thickness than said medial and end portions, the tops of the portions be- .tween said medial and end portions being disposed below the tops of said medial and end portions, all of said portions being of substantially equal cross sectional area and the relationship between the moment of inertia and the height the rails, high stiff end portions for loading cooperation with the rails at the ends of the joint, and portions between said medial and end portions of lesser height and greater thickness than said medial and end portions for clearance from the rails, said bar being of substantially uniform cross sectional area throughout its length and the relationship between the moment of inertia and the height of the bar being substantially constant whereby the bar is of substantially equal strength throughout its length, the said end portions of the bar having their metal distributed so that they are more flexible vertically than the medial portion of the bar.

5. A splice bar for connecting together the meeting end portions of railway rails, said bar having medial and end portions for loading engagement with the rails and portions between said medial and end portions of lesser height and greater thickness than said medial and end portions, the tops and the bottoms of the portions of said bar between its medial and its end tially constant, whereby the bar is of substan-- tially equal strength throughout its length, the metal of the said medial, end and intermediate portions of the bar being distributed so that the medial portion of the bar has greatest vertical stiffness, the end portions of the bar have lesser vertical stiflness than said medial portion and the portions between said medial and end por tions have lesser vertical stiffness than said end portions.

- CLARKSON A. DISBROW. 

